


Getting the Space

by OnstageSport



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-11 12:25:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12935223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnstageSport/pseuds/OnstageSport
Summary: Katherine got the exclusive story, now she had to hold up her end of the bargain.





	Getting the Space

“Strike news?” Bogart repeated, quirking his eyebrow at Katherine over his desk. “You’re not serious, Plumber? Everyone in New York is covering the strike.”

“Not this one,” Katherine insisted. “I’ve got the exclusive. If you would just, please-”

Bogart cocked his head at her, seemingly surprised that she had managed to secure it so quickly.

“Well, how’d you manage that?” he laughed.

Katherine grit her teeth to prevent her from lashing out that she was just as capable of getting an exclusive interview as any of the other _Sun_ employees.

“I spoke with the leaders of the strike and promised to get them on the front page,” she stated. It felt a little odd to refer to boys scarcely her own age as leaders of any kind, but facts were facts.

“The front page? Plumber, you know you can’t promise-”

“This is front page-worthy news, Mr. Bogart. If you’d just read it and see?”

She held her freshly-typed article out to him again, hoping he would take a look. Bogart took his time reaching for the papers. He took even longer to read it, probably examining it for any error, any reason to discredit her work. Katherine could feel her heart thudding frantically in her chest. She began wringing her hands together anxiously, awaiting the verdict.

Finally, _finally_ , Bogart looked up from the article and dropped the papers onto his desk.

“So?” Katherine asked meekly, lowering her hands. “Do we get the space?”

The moment of silence before Bogart gave his judgment was excruciating. She braced herself for the worst. How she could go back and face the newsies after handing them false hope, she had no idea.

“This isn’t your beat.”

Katherine swallowed hard.

“I…I know, sir, but I was there, and ready, and—and these boys are counting on me, Mr. Bogart,” she argued, trying to keep all hints of desperation out of her voice.

Bogart sighed and folded his hands.

“Look, Plumber, I think it’s cute you’ve got a soft spot for them-” Katherine steeled herself against the accusation. She most definitely did not. “But Doggett handles the hard news. We’ll give him the story and let him run with it.”

Katherine saw red.

“ _What?_ ”

She let a lot of things go while she was on the job. She kindly corrected the assumptions that she was the secretary. She pretended that she didn’t hear the comments disparaging her skill and work ethic. When she volunteered to pick up the slack and write actual articles, she allowed the scoffs and chuckles to roll off her back. But this was the final straw.

“Doggett doesn’t know the first thing about this strike,” she pointed out, trying to keep her tone even. It would do her no good to get hysterical.

“Have him briefed on it by morning,” was Bogart’s solution.

“They aren’t going to want to work with him!” she insisted. Though, she thought, after how hard she had to work to convince them to let her take the story in the first place, they might prefer to work with Harold Doggett if they had the option.

She cleared her throat and took a small step back, reevaluating her tactic.

“Mr. Bogart,” she started solemnly. “These kids…their lives are so full of disappointments and broken promises, and I would hate to let them down by not covering their story.”

“Well, you can tell those boys not to worry. Their story will be told,” Bogart assured her.

“Loyalty is very important to them and they don’t trust many people and I don’t think they’d like it very much if another reporter were to come up to them after they’ve made a promise,” Katherine spewed a string of nonsense that she supposed made sense. If she had grown up on the streets as she presumed many of them had, she would be slow to trust just anyone and those that she _did_ trust would be as good as family and shown a great deal of loyalty.

“You sure know a lot about these boys after just one interview,” Bogart commented.

Katherine elected to ignore that as a response of any kind would incriminate her as having a soft spot for them. She sighed and, as a last resort, clasped her hands under her chin and gave him her best doe-eyed pout.

“Please,” she implored, hating that she was reduced to begging. “Please let me have the space. I promise you won’t be sorry. Please?”

He seemed to think it over for a few seconds before Katherine sweetened the bargain.

“I won’t even ask for any other stories for a month. I’ll just stick to entertainment if you let me have this one. _Please._ ”

Bogart looked between the yearning writer and her article. He did this a few times before taking a deep breath and saying, “You better not let me down, Plumber,” thrusting her pages back at her.

It took everything in her to restrain herself from squealing in excitement. Instead, she just beamed at her boss, thanked him profusely for the opportunity, and promised that he could count on her. With that, she disappeared out the door of his office, ready to change the world.


End file.
